Government stands firm on Chinese qualifications

Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday encouraged the public to pursue studies in the US or Europe rather than China, as the government has yet to recognize Chinese diplomas.

"We are open-minded. But we will be affected if we begin to recognize diplomas from Chinese academic institutions," Su said in response to a question by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Kao Su-po (高思博) on the legislative floor yesterday.

"We are more than happy to encourage our students to study in well-known colleges or universities in the US or Europe, but we definitely will not encourage them to do so in China," he added.

Su said it would take time for the government to establish the relevant mechanisms before Chinese diplomas are recognized in Taiwan.

"The impact [of recognizing Chinese diplomas] on our own education system, education policies, employment opportunities for our own graduates and national security are currently our main concerns," Su said.

"Moreover, there are so many fake Chinese degrees on the market," Su said. "We do not want to spend our time trying to distinguish between real and fakes ones, do we?"

Kao said that although several two and three-year colleges in the country has been promoted to four-year colleges to give students more opportunities to pursue degrees, these institutions have often been criticized over the quality of their facilities and graduates.

Kao added that with the sharp rise in the number of colleges and universities around the country, many of these institutions suffer from a shortage of students.

Kao questioned whether the government was trying to protect these colleges by delaying recognition of Chinese qualifications.